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Re: Peking Man
nitrous@ccnet.com
Sat, 18 Feb 95 09:23:32 PDT
In article <3hvurt$2a3@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
> what is Peking Man? Is that a name used for some hominids who lived in
> a cave for a few hundred thousand years?
>
> john
Peking Man=Pithecanthropus
Peking Man is the first relics of primitive man found in China or mainland
Asia. The bones represented at least 40 individuals from a stage of human
evolution previously unknown. They were the only fossils of that stage to be
found until recently, and is doubtful that anything in as good of condition as
Peking Man will ever be found. The fossilized skull was found December of
1929. Not only was it an important find anthropologically, but for the Chinese
as well, especially those who still practiced the older beliefs. The bones
were found in Zhoukoudian in China. This is where the Chinese dug up their
Dragon bones for healing, and also claimed to find bones with inscriptures on
them. Great time for ancestral worship.
The Peking Man bones supported an abrupt and extreme change in social life. No
one knows where the bones are today. During the Sino-Japanese war those at the
Peking Union Medical College became nervous that harm would be done to the
fossils, so in November of 1941 officials packed up the bones of Peking Man and
sent them to Camp Holcomb, a Marine Corps base not far from Peking. They
didn't want the bones to fall into the hands of the Japanese.
The Marines were scheduled to leave China December 8 and were to take the bones
with them to the United States. The Marines never left though. On December 7
war was declared by the Japanese and the Marines were arrested and interned for
the duration of the war. The bones have been missing ever since.
If anyone wants any more information on theories of what happened to the Peking
Man bones, just E-mail. I am working on a conspiracy novel revolving around
the bones and have done too much research for my own good!
-Kristi
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